How Boxing Day is marked globally and relation to law

The day after Christmas, popularly known as Boxing Day, is a holiday sometimes marred in confusion to its essence. When I was growing up, there was confusion as to its meaning.

There were those who said it was the day of rest when those who had received Christmas presents would be opening the boxes to reveal what they had received, hence the term Boxing.

In the Oxford English dictionary, Boxing Day is defined as the day after Christmas observed as the holiday on which postmen, errand boys and other servants expected to receive a “Christmas box” from their employers as gift for service during the year.

Others, particularly among the mischievous young, thought it was a day they were entitled to engage in fisticuffs against their real and imagined foes without consequence! Indeed, in some countries, Boxing Day is taken literally by holding pugilistic prise-fights and competitions

However, the sport of boxing is not the real intent of the holiday.

Its origin is said to have been during the medieval period in reference to alms box used in churches for collection of money meant to be donated to the poor.

The day after Christmas is also a religious holiday to mark the day of remembrance of the martyrdom of the Christian Saint Stephen.

In Germany, Italy and the province of Catalonia in Spain, the day after Christmas is a holiday known as Saint Stephen’s day.

Charitable works

Another story goes that Boxing Day as a day for charitable works was inaugurated by a tenth century Duke who was surveying his land the day after Christmas when he came upon a poor man gathering firewood in a blizzard.

In response to this, the Duke went to the man’s house with a box of food and other items which established the day as one of rendering good deeds in boxes.

Boxing Day as a legally established holiday originated in the United Kingdom. It became a public holiday, known in the United Kingdom as a bank holiday, since 1871 under a law known as the Bank Holidays Act.

The law states that on that day, banks and financial institutions remain closed.

Likewise any cheques or other financial instruments which mature on Boxing Day, the obligation for payment is pushed to the next day.

This law applied to Ireland as well until the partition of Ireland in 1920. Before the partition, it was known as the feast day of Saint Stephen.

Northern Ireland reverted to Boxing Day after the partition.

The same has been the case in Scotland since 1974 where Boxing Day became an additional banking holiday by royal proclamation under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act of 1971.

Costumed dancers

The only persons who are often at work on this holiday are professional sportsmen. The English Premier League keeps a full schedule in this period and does have a number of matches on Boxing Day. The same goes for other sporting events.

In Bermuda, costumed dancers perform throughout the island on Boxing Day in a tradition that dates back to the 18th Century when slaves were permitted to gather and dance for their entertainment during the Christmas period.

Boxing Day is also celebrated as public holiday in the whole of Australia, with the exception of the state of South Australia where it is celebrated as Proclamation Day by the South Australian Public Holidays Act of 1910 to commemorate when it was established as British province in 1834.

Boxing Day is also a holiday in New Zealand by law and anyone who has to work on that day must be compensated by payment of either one and a half times their usual salary for that day and a day off as compensation for working that day.

The day is also a federal statutory holiday in Canada. On this day, all government offices, banks and post offices and other establishments must be closed.

If the day falls on a weekend, the compensation is given in the following weekday.

The same is the case with Nigeria where workers and students take rest from work or their studies.

In Poland and the Netherlands, the day is a holiday established by law but treated as just an extension of the Christmas Day festivities.

In South Africa, the day is a holiday under the Public Holidays Act but meant to be a day of good will during which citizens are encouraged to show compassion for their fellow citizens.

Utamaduni day

Since 1994, it is called the day of good will rather than boxing day, to sever ties to the unsavoury colonial past in that country.

Kenya, like most countries under the British Commonwealth, also has the day after Christmas as a holiday.

The 26th December every year is a holiday under the Public Holidays Act and known as Boxing Day.

The Kenyan law states that if Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, then the next weekday shall be a day to compensate for the holiday taken up by a non-working day.

The Cabinet recently proposed that the law be amended to rename it as Utamaduni Day to make it a day for celebration of Kenya’s cultural heritage.

When the Bill for the amendment is ready, Parliament will need to consider whether the name change is worth the effort of amending the law.

If the amendment is passed by the legislature, Kenya will join other countries which have retained the day as holiday but given it a different name.

But it must be understood that Christmas Day, leave alone Boxing Day, is not a public holiday in all countries.

In fact, the day after Christmas is a working day in the United States of America, Belgium, Pakistan, Japan and even in India to name a few countries.

As stated earlier in this piece, Boxing Day appears to have been bequeathed to many countries on account of their British colonial heritage.

It does appear, therefore, that the day after Christmas is celebrated in various ways, whether as Boxing Day or Saint Stephen’s religious feast or day of goodwill feast, but has religious origins meant to be a day for goodwill and attention to the welfare of other persons whichever form it takes.

It is a holiday within a larger festive season meant for reflection upon larger public good.

 It is a rare example of where the law seeks to govern social behaviour towards a larger public good.

One hopes that in this year’s Boxing Day, readers of this piece avoided avoiding pugilism of different kinds, instead boxing their personal wants and unveil their goodwill towards other compatriots in a year that has otherwise boxed most people into situations they never imagined themselves being in.